Angels Raining Fire
by TheatreBrat
Summary: River persuades the crew to land on a border planet, where a few rebels are still fighting the Alliance. Rated for violence in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: My first attempt at a Firefly fic – reviews are shiny!_

"Down there."

Wash turned in the cockpit seat to see River standing behind him, watching the displays. She moved over to a display, tapping the surface of some unknown planet. Wash sighed.

"No, see, when you're carting trunkloads of stolen goods around the 'verse, it's usually a good idea to land on the right planet. That way everyone knows exactly where they are."

River shook her head, agitated.

"They're choking," she muttered. "Choking on a few raggedy dust mites."

Without warning, River lunged for Serenity's controls, wrenching them out of Wash's hands and making the ship bank sharply towards the apparently choking planet.

"Hey! Hey, whoa!" Wash yelled, fighting River for control of his ship. He'd just resorted to hitting her hand with a plastic stegosaurus in an attempt to get her to let go of the controls when Mal made his entrance.

"Wash, what the _chou ma niao_ is going on?"

River stopped struggling, though she retained her grip on the controls, and turned to the captain.

"They're dancing," she informed him seriously. "The steps are still wrong, and they keep kicking up the dust… they're all choking. Again."

"That's as maybe," Mal replied, reaching over to gently prise Serenity's controls from River's grasp, "but unless that dirt you're referrin' to takes the shape of any Alliance patrols, we ain't – "

Mal's attempt to reason with River was cut off by a shrill proximity alert.

"_Fay-fay duh pee-yen_," Wash muttered. "Alliance."

Mal glanced at the display.

"They ain't headed our way, far as I can tell. Just means we got to step extra careful is all."

River rolled her eyes.

"Don't matter," she said. "They'll still be choking."

Mal gave her a strange look for a second.

"Chokin' on what?"

"Dust mites," River told him, her tone suggesting that it should be obvious. "Little brown dust mites, choking cause they can't dance like the others."

"Uh-huh. And in some language that's English?"

River held Mal's gaze for a long moment, brow furrowed, as if trying to make sense of something in her head.

"Serenity," she said softly, and suddenly she was gone, slipping out the bridge doorway and away. Wash sighed.

"Y'know, just when you think you're gonna get some sense out of that girl – "

"Wash." Mal was totally serious now, never taking his eyes off the display screen. "Take us in a little closer to that moon."

"You sure that's wise, what with the Alliance – "

"Wash. Just do it."

"Sir. Yes _sir_."

Serenity executed a graceful turn and changed course, Wash muttering to himself in Chinese and Mal ignoring him, staring at the display. They got close enough to see the planet's surface, and Wash's muttering abruptly stopped.

"Well, that's the last time we take advice from crazy people…" he whispered.

They were close enough now that they could just hear the sounds of gunfire, and explosion, and the occasional scream from the planet's surface. Wash glanced over at Mal, watching the lights from the war zone below them play over the captain's face. Even from this distance, Mal knew exactly who was winning. The few raggedy survivors left on the non-Alliance side were hopelessly outnumbered, being advanced on on all sides by enemy troops, still desperately fighting a battle they had to know they couldn't win…

Crouched in her room, River jerked with the force of planetside explosions she couldn't possibly feel.

"They're choking…" she muttered. "Choking on dust that can't speak…"

She stood abruptly, looking through _Serenity_'s walls at the planet below her.

"Don't worry," River whispered. "We'll be your angels."


	2. Chapter 2

Inara was sitting on her bed reading when Mal burst into her shuttle. She looked up, irritated.

"Mal, how many times do I have to – "

"No time for that, Inara. You know your way around a med kit enough to help a few soldiers?"

"Well, I – what's going on?"

"Alliance got a few last remnants pinned down dirtside. If we're lucky, we can stop this turning into another Serenity Valley."

"Are you sure it's safe to help with Alliance crawling about?"

"That's what they said," River informed them, appearing in the shuttle doorway.

"They? Who's they? Mal, what's going on?"

Inara got up, putting down her book. Unnoticed by Mal or the Companion, River wandered over to pick it up.

"I don't know who they is any more'n you do," Mal told Inara, "but I cannot just walk away from this. There's people dyin' down there, and I don't care to have that on my conscience."

Inara nodded.

"I'll help."

"Thank you."

Mal left to organise the rest of his crew, and Inara turned back to her bed, starting slightly when she saw River, calmly reading. She sighed, ignoring the young girl for the moment as she rifled through her belongings, extracting anything vaguely medical.

"That should do it," she murmured, and was about to head for the door when River slipped a hand under her pillow, pulled out a vial and held it out to her.

"You need this."

"River, no, I – where did you get that?"

"No one notices her," River said softly. "No one notices her, so she sneaks it away. Only for emergencies, she says."

Inara reached for the vial, and River handed it over, smiling.

"It is only for emergencies, and I'd appreciate it if one person on this ship would respect my privacy once in a while," Inara said, but she slipped the vial into her bag of supplies, then pointedly waited for River to walk out the door before leaving the shuttle herself.

River passed the kitchen, where the crew were gathered around the table being given their final orders. She heard a snatch of conversation:

"I am not going to argue this, Doc. Your sister stays on the ship, alone. War zone ain't no place for her, and we need everyone else down there. _Dong ma_?"

"I don't like it. It's not safe, I – "

"You don't gotta like it. Let's move!"

River rolled her eyes at her brother and continued down to the cargo bay. She lay on the floor to listen to the battle below her, and on the ground, a few fighters caught sight of Serenity. River closed her eyes, and conversations from miles below her filtered through the cargo bay floor.

"_What the _guay _is that?"_

"_Supplies. It's got to be supplies."_

"_You ruttin' moron, it's a Firefly. That ain't no supply ship."_

"_Sure, but it ain't no Alliance boat, neither."_

"_Whatever it is, it ain't gonna be no help. We need a lot more'n one little do-gooder Firefly."_

And River heard the conversation stop. She heard the whine of an unnoticed Alliance seeker as it dropped towards the soldiers. She heard the explosion, and she heard the soldiers' bodies tear and break, and she heard the screams… and then she heard the silence. And River got up, screaming silence still echoing in her mind, and went to find herself a gun.


	3. Chapter 3

_Warning: This chapter contains spoilers up to the end of the series. Nothing specific past War Stories, but spoilerphobes probably shouldn't read._

Kaylee had never seen so much blood. It seemed to be everywhere, and the stench of it turned her stomach. A huge stone wall separated the soldiers from the Alliance, and it was spattered with blood. Kaylee hung back from the rest of the crew, staring in shock at the carnage they were walking into, and wished she'd offered to stay behind. She could've been playing with River right now, laughing and joking, instead of walking into the nightmare in front of her.

A grenade hit the ground, far enough away from the crew that they were in no danger, but close enough that they saw the soldier it hit. Close enough that blood spattered onto the ground at Mal's feet. Mal barely noticed. He led his crew forward, stepping over the soldier's mangled body. Almost crying, Kaylee backed away. Another grenade hit, a little closer this time, and Kaylee turned tail and fled back to the safety of Serenity.

On the battlefield, most soldiers seemed too worn out and numb from battle to question the arrival of Serenity's crew. Most gratefully accepted all the help they were offered, and Simon had quickly set up an impromptu medic's tent.

One young soldier, however, cornered Mal.

"You guys are _kwong-juh duh_ coming in here. What d'you want from us?"

"Don't want nothing, soldier." Mal replied. "Just helpin' out."

"_Jien tah-duh guay_, you don't. Everyone wants something."

"Yeah? Well, if _you_ want to get out of this mess alive, I'd suggest you shut up and let me 'n my crew do our work."

"Just don't seem right, is all. Just happening to find us out here, when you got a qualified doc on board… you ain't even asked why we're fighting."

"You're fighting Alliance, and that's good enough for me."

The soldier laughed, and Mal scowled.

"Don't see anything funny 'bout that."

"These ain't just Alliance," the soldier said. "We're fighting somethin' else here. You see that wall? That's the only way we can stop 'em. I ain't never seen a soldier could do the things these _tyen-sah duh uh-muo_ do… wouldn't never have believed it neither, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

"So… why you fightin' them?"

The soldier looked up at Mal, defiance in every line of his face.

"They took one of ours, and we do not take kindly to that."

"Took them where?"

"I never did find out – wanted to make a monster out of her, I know that much."

Something not entirely pleasant occurred to Mal. _A monster… the kind of monster that can shoot three men dead with its eyes closed, just by doing the math? The kind of monster that knows things it couldn't know? The kind of monster that has to be created by some shady Alliance entity… well now, this is all starting to sound depressingly familiar._

Mal turned to the soldier.

"Come with me," he said slowly. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"What kind of someone?"

"A monster."

The soldier was about to ask another question, when he was interrupted by the whine of a seeker.

"Get down!" Mal yelled, and everyone hit the ground. The seeker's whine doubled suddenly, then tripled, then Mal lost track as an ever increasing barrage of seekers were fired across the wall.

"_Wuh de tyen, ah_," the soldier beside Mal murmured.

And then they hit. The explosions shook the ground under Mal, jerking his body up, then slamming it into the dirt again.

Flames tore up the side of the hastily assembled medical tent. Simon and Inara crouched in a corner, unable to reach the tent's exit.

Zoe gritted her teeth, holding in a cry of pain as a piece of shrapnel embedded itself in her leg where she lay on the ground, shielding Wash's body with her own.

Book lay with his hands folded in front of him, eyes closed, praying under his breath.

Jayne lay with his guns under him, protecting them, swearing under his breath.

The shock wave jolted Serenity and knocked Kaylee off her feet. Crouched in the cargo bay, too terrified to look outside, she started to cry.

As the seekers hit, the crew's thoughts echoed in River's mind. _Monsters… please, God, let us live… ai-yah, tyen-ah… ruttin' bastards… inhuman… monsters… make it stop…_

That was Kaylee's voice. _Please, please, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop…_

"Make it stop…" River whispered.

Alone, dry-eyed, totally calm, River lifted a gun to her head.


	4. Chapter 4

Warning – spoilers for the whole series and the BDM

_Warning – spoilers for the whole series and the BDM._

"River!"

Kaylee ran onto the bridge, tackling River and knocking the gun to the floor.

"River, what are you doing? Where'd you get that? Is it loaded?"

Kaylee picked up the gun and clumsily checked it.

"Honey, how'd you get a loaded gun?"

River stared at the floor, her hair hiding her face.

"No touching guns," she muttered.

"Right, so I'll just put this away, and – "

"No touching GUNS!" River yelled, and she lunged across the bridge and snatched the gun out of Kaylee's hand.

"Okay, I won't touch the gun, but River, honey, please put it down, you're scaring me."

"Can't."

"Okay, um, why not?"

"Got to get rid of the monsters. Got to stop them dancing."

"The monsters are dancing? River, you're not making any sense. Who are the monsters?"

"Eyes closed, three men dead," River murmured. "Did the math, three men dead. Eyes closed, two by two, three men dead, hands of blue…"

Kaylee frowned, trying to work it out.

"D'you mean… what you did when we rescued the Cap'n?"

"Eyes closed," River whispered. "Did the math. Can't look."

"No! No, River, you're not a monster! Don't even think that!"

River stared at the gun she was holding. Slowly, steadily, she cocked it, curled her finger around the trigger, and lifted it til it was pointing straight at Kaylee.

"No, River, what are you doing?"

"What am I?" River said softly, her eyes fixed on Kaylee's.

"Please, you're scaring me, please put the gun down…"

"Scary monsters," River whispered. She dropped the gun at Kaylee's feet and ran out the door, leaving Kaylee sitting shaking in the middle of the bridge floor.

"Are you alright?"

Simon reached out a hand to help Inara up, still shaking a little himself. His hand had barely touched the Companion's, however, before Mal stormed into what was left of the medical tent, a soldier following in his wake.

"Inara, I need you to find the rest of the crew and bring 'em back here. Me and the Doc are gonna have a little discussion."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Inara replied, walking out before Mal had a chance to answer. Mal gazed after her for just a split second too long, then turned to Simon.

"Now, Doc, this may sound a little silly, but what's the chance that moonbrained sister of yours is some sort of… soldier assassin thing?"

"What? River?"

Mal nudged the soldier forward.

"Tell the Doc here 'bout those Alliance troops. Everything you know. If I'm right, could be we can help a little more'n we thought."

The soldier shrugged.

"Don't know much. A few months back, my sister signed up for some Academy thing, on some Core planet somewhere. She went off, we didn't hear a word from her, then suddenly she shows up back here, wouldn't say a word, just kept repeating some daft nursery rhyme. Then the Alliance shows up, with these soldiers. Not regular soldiers, neither. It's only the wall keeping 'em from killing us all with their bare hands, guns or no. They ain't human, and I reckon they was looking to make my sister like them."

Simon lifted his head from where he'd been staring at the floor.

"This nursery rhyme," he said softly. "Do you remember it?"

"Sure. Don't see what it's got to do with anything though. Two by two, hands of blue, that's what she kept saying."

Simon was about to speak, when something flew overhead, unnervingly close to the tent. Mal ripped a hanging piece of canvas aside, and looked up.

"_Ai ya. Women wanle_," he muttered.

"What is it?"

"That, Doctor, was one of Serenity's shuttles."

Simon nodded.

"I see," he said calmly. "Captain, I think we may have a slight problem."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: The Chinese in chapter 4 should have read "Woh deh wan le" not "Women wan le" _A/N: The Chinese in chapter 4 should have read "Woh deh wan le" not "Women wan le". Thanks to cHr0n0sPh3r3 for the correction._ Chapter 5

At the controls of the leading Alliance ship, Captain Victor Harding glanced out the front window of the craft at the battle below, then hit the intercom button.

"This is your Captain speaking. All ground units are ordered to withdraw."

"Done."

"Good…. What?"

The Captain sat up straight suddenly.

"This is a one-way intercom, now who's playing around?"

A rather unsettling giggle came through the impossible intercom. Harding glanced down at the ground, and stopped, staring in disbelief.

On the ground below, the soldiers had stopped attacking the stone wall. In fact, they had stopped attacking anything, and were marching back towards the ship.

Harding grabbed his microphone.

"All troops! Stop where you are! This is a direct order from your Captain!"

"They can't hear you," said the strange, girl's voice over the intercom.

"What d'you mean, they can't – look, who are you?"

"I'm an angel," the voice said softly. "The angel that got away. And I'm bringing the others home. No more dancing, Captain."

"Dancing? What the ruttin' hell is goin' on here? Who are you?"

"I told you," said the voice, and suddenly it was disturbingly close. Harding turned to see a young girl, standing almost directly behind him. He jumped, startled.

"River Tam."

River bowed low, grinning.

"You've disabled the communication systems, and you've somehow got all the modified soldiers retreating. You're as clever as they said you were, River Tam. Of course, the modified soldiers aren't the only ones out there."

Harding reached under his desk and flicked a switch.

"There we go. That should mobilise my back-up forces. And you, Miss Tam, will be returned to your home. The Academy."

River grinned.

"Nearly right!" she said cheerfully, and she turned and ran out of the room.

On Serenity's bridge, Kaylee slowly lifted her head.

"Right," she muttered to herself. "Gotta move. Gotta get this gun away, gotta help the Cap'n, and Simon, and River… oh, god…"

She took a deep, shuddering breath, then steeled herself.

"Alright. Kaywinnet Lee Frye, you are gonna get up, and you are gonna move. Right now. Right. Okay…"

Slowly, still shaky, Kaylee stood up, picked up the gun, and started walking off the bridge.

"Kaylee."

Kaylee screamed, and leapt away from the intercom.

"Kaylee, it's okay. I need you to help me."

"River?"

"Are you scared?"

"Yes, River! I'm scared! … River? River, where'd you go?"

Shaking a little more now, Kaylee moved towards Jayne's room, just wanting to get rid of the gun.

On the battlefield outside, a com unit in what used to be the medical tent crackled to life.

"Simon?"

"River!"

Simon leapt across the tent and grabbed the com set.

"River, we saw the shuttle. Where are you? Are you alright?"

"I'm gonna stop the dancing."

"What? River, I need you to go back to the ship, now, before you get hurt."

On the other end of the coms, sitting in Serenity's shuttle, River rolled her eyes.

"Can I talk to the Captain?"

Simon shrugged, a little hurt, and handed the com set to Mal.

"Hello, River. Glad you're alright. Now, what in the sphincter of hell are you doing with my shuttle?"

"Don't yell at her!" Simon said. Mal rolled his eyes, and turned away from the doctor.

"Are you scared?" said a new voice from the com set.

"What? No! Where'd River go?"

The soldier Mal had brought with him ran forward and snatched the com set.

"That's my sister! That's my Laura! Laura, where are you? You alright? Laura!"

Mal moved away, sidling over to Simon.

"So our moonbrain's joined up with all the other little moonbrains. Anyone else just a little worried by this?"

"River's got friends?" Jayne said from the impromptu doorway in the wall of the tent.

Behind him, the rest of the crew materialised, Zoe limping and leaning heavily on Wash.

"Sir, all of the enemy soldiers appear to be retreating," Zoe said.

"Almost all."

"What?"

"Almost," Inara repeated.

The rest of the crew followed her gaze. Above them, circling in the sky, was the entire fleet of Alliance ships. And standing fully visible in the front window of the leading ship, piloting it easily towards the Serenity crew, River just laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Since when can she fly a ruttin' ship?" Jayne demanded, watching River expertly pilot the head of the Alliance fleet towards them.

"She learns very quickly," Simon muttered, distracted. "… five, six, seven."

"What are you mutterin' about?"

Simon turned to Mal.

"Where's Kaylee?"

"What? I thought she was… _ta ma de_, where'd she go?"

"If I might venture an opinion, Captain," Book said, "she's not used to battle. Could be she snuck back onto the ship."

Mal opened his mouth to reply, when the now horribly familiar whine of a seeker sounded overhead.

"Everybody down!" Mal yelled, and the crew dropped to the ground.

Above, sitting in her pilot's seat, River saw the missile fall, and in the ships behind her, fifty of the Academy's experiments, fifty almost-children, followed it with their eyes. It hit close to the medic's tent.

Inara cried out as the ground under her bucked, knocking her to the ground. She fell against Simon, and he stumbled and fell with her.

River tensed, eyes widening.

Simon got up, reeling a little from the force of the blast, and helped Inara to her feet.

River relaxed. Simon wasn't hurt. She returned her attention to the rest of the fleet, flying behind her. One of the ships was veering off course, no longer being steered.

On the ground, Serenity's crew picked themselves up. Mal's gaze moved over his crew – no one seemed to have sustained more than a few bruises. He turned to Simon, about to demand more information about River's sudden piloting ability, when Book touched his shoulder and gestured towards a corner of the tent.

Curled on the ground, the soldier Mal had brought into the tent with him was dying, a piece of shrapnel half buried in his eye, covering his face in blood.

In the sky above them, Laura's ship continued to stray from its course, as on the bridge, Laura screamed.

On the ground, the soldier lay bleeding, gasping in agony. Zoe crouched next to him, trying to help, but she soon stood, shaking her head.

"Nothing anyone can do for him now," she murmured, turning away from the dying man.

"There might be something," Inara said softly. She reached into her bag of supplies and retrieved the vial River had given her.

"What's that?" Simon asked, moving forward to take a look.

"It's a poison," Inara told him, trying hard to remain calm. "Issued to most Companions, to be used only in emergencies. It kills quickly and painlessly."

She looked to Mal, asking him what she should do. The Captain nodded, and Inara knelt beside the soldier, gently turned his head to face her, and let the contents of the vial drip into his mouth.

In her stolen ship, Laura sat numbly in the pilot seat, not touching the controls.

"It hurts," she whispered. "Bleeding away, running away, _make it stop_!"

"It's alright," River whispered back. "Nearly over now. Nearly done."

On the ground, the soldier drew one last shuddering breath, and lay still. Trying not to cry, Inara gently closed his eyes, then moved away, unable to look at the body.

In the sky above, Laura relaxed, silent. Silently, she brought her ship back into line with the others, and silently she flew on, following River over the stone wall and into the rebels' camp.

"So I got a question," Jayne said, breaking the silence that had descended on the tent since the soldier had died. "If River and all her little moon-brained friends are in them Alliance ships, then what in the hell just shot at us?"

"That's a damn good question," Mal muttered. He moved away from the missile impact site, enough that the dust wasn't too thick to see through, and looked up at the sky.

"You might wanna come see this," he called back. The rest of Serenity's crew moved over to their Captain and followed his gaze.

"Oh," Jayne grinned. "Oh, this is gonna be good."

"_Tai-kong suo-yo duh shing-chiou sai-jin wuh duh pee-goo_," Wash muttered.

"Oh, no. This is not happening," Simon murmured.

Softly, behind the rest of the crew, Book started to pray.

High above what was left of the medic's tent, hovering above River's fleet of stolen ships, Captain Victor Harding's reinforcements had finally arrived.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7Chapter 7

Zoe watched as the opposing fleets drew nearer each other, silently calculating the odds, working out the result of the battle… she and Mal reached their conclusions almost simultaneously.

"There's not enough of them, sir."

"I know."

"Not enough of who?" Simon demanded, getting a little panicky. "Who's going to win?"

The com set in the dead soldier's hand crackled to life, River's voice filling the remains of the tent.

"Not enough," she said, utterly calm, shocking Simon into silence.

"River? River! You're going to get yourself killed. Please, River, I need you to land that thing, get yourself out of the sky, get yourself to safety – "

Over the com set, River interrupted him.

"No! You don't understand… one raggedy angel… it doesn't matter. Gotta get more… not enough…"

"Enough for what?"

River was silent for a second, thinking, and when she replied, Simon could almost hear her smiling.

"Enough to make it rain."

On Serenity's bridge, Kaylee stared out the front window at the two armies filling the sky. She was no military strategist, she knew that, but she thought one of the sides looked a little outnumbered. The smaller side's leading ship changed position, just a little. Just enough to let Kaylee see the shuttle attached to its side. Serenity's shuttle.

"River," Kaylee whispered.

Without consciously meaning to, she played back in her mind what River had said – _got to stop the monsters_. But… it had sounded like River was talking about herself. Kaylee frowned, confused. River wanted to be stopped? No, that couldn't be right… River wanted her to stop the Alliance? That sounded more plausible – but how was she supposed to do that? She couldn't even leave the ship.

"Think," Kaylee muttered to herself. There had to be something she could do… wait.

She stared out the window again. River was leading an army, that she was sure of… but who was flying the rest of the fleet?

And then, suddenly, Kaylee knew what to do.

On a ship orbiting Sihnon, a crew were preparing for the anniversary of the kidnapping of one of their own: the day a girl – a genius pilot – was stolen from them and taken to a mysterious Academy. The Captain was about to leave his bunkroom when a message came over the Cortex.

"Okay, I don't even know if this is gonna work, I've never tried to broadcast anything like this before… if anyone's hearing this, my name is Kaylee Frye, and I'm speaking on behalf of – of River Tam."

The Captain stopped, not quite believing anyone would have the audacity – no, the stupidity – to broadcast anything like this. A quick check of the message settings revealed that it was being beamed out all across the 'verse, to anyone who would listen.

"If anyone's had anyone taken, like River was… I think I found 'em. We need your help, though."

The girl on the Cortex screen gave a list of co-ordinates – a planet, just outside the Core worlds.

The Captain reached for the ship's intercom.

"I need all crew on the bridge, right now."

The Captain grinned.

"We're going for a little detour."

Across the 'verse, the message reached every Cortex Kaylee's engineering prowess could persuade it to. Sometimes it was dismissed as a hoax, and sometimes those who heard it had no clue what the strange girl was saying – but some heard, and believed, and set their ships to the co-ordinates Kaylee gave. And those who believed the message passed it on, and some of those they passed it on to believed, and they passed it on further, until all across the entire 'verse, the parents and siblings and friends and lovers of all those the Academy had taken away heard little Kaylee's cry for help, and responded.

On Serenity's bridge, Kaylee sat back, still shocked at what she'd done.

In the wrecked tent below, and on the battleground around it, the weary soldiers were beginning to work things out for themselves. With the knowledge that their monsters were now fighting for them came hope, but almost every soldier there had a keen enough mind to know that the raggedy army of stolen ships had next to no chance of victory. The Alliance army were just waiting, waiting for the rebels to fire the first shot, to bring about their own destruction.

On the bridge of her ship, River watched her Cortex screen. She heard Kaylee's message, and she grinned.

On the ground, the soldiers were muttering, some about defeat, most about surrender, all about hopelessness. The decision to surrender to the Alliance, to let them take what didn't belong to them, had almost been reached, when every com set on the battleground came to life.

Most of the soldiers on that battleground heard the voice of a teenage girl, any teenage girl.

In the wreckage of their tent, most of Serenity's crew heard the voice of River Tam.

And Serenity's Captain heard the voice of another soldier, another Malcolm Reynolds. Mal heard his own words spoken back to him through a hundred com sets, through the voice of a moonbrained girl.

"The Alliance said they were gonna waltz onto this planet, and you choked them with those words. You have done the impossible, and that makes you mighty. Just a little while longer, our angels are gonna be soaring overhead raining fire on these arrogant cod, so you hold. You hold!"

And one soldier after another grinned, and the mutters of agreement that had been growing throughout River's message slowly grew into a ragged cheer. The soldiers manned every bit of artillery they could find, ready to hold their ground for as long as they had to, and Jayne yelled a challenge to the Alliance ships above them and fired a massive cannon into the sky, and the battle began.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Explosions rocked the surface of the planet, and the whine of seeker after seeker filled the air. Soldiers swarmed across the ground, barking orders, all totally focussed on what was happening in the sky.

River and her fleet were leading the Alliance ships in a dance, dodging and weaving around the other army in their stolen Alliance ships, until the Alliance men were no longer sure who they were meant to be firing at. A few ships started to concentrate on the soldiers on the ground – at least they were a clear target – but they were soon reprimanded by their superiors for ignoring the attacking ships.

Serenity's crew were contributing to the battle in any way they could – Inara and Simon were once more tending to the wounded, this time with Book's help, Mal and Zoe were expertly targeting and firing at enemy ships, Wash was holding a gun, trying desperately to look like he even vaguely knew what he was doing, and Jayne was behind the biggest gun he had ever seen, yelling like a maniac and massacring any enemy ships within range.

River's voice came through every com set still, letting the soldiers know which ships were hers, and even directing some of the battle. The heat of battle, and the belief that River was somehow bringing reinforcements, had caused most of the soldiers to let go of their reluctance to be ordered around by a girl. River Tam had finally given these hardened, battle-weary men something to hope for.

The soldiers' mood may have improved, but that was doing nothing for Serenity's crew. Simon was working too quickly, even a little haphazardly, constantly trying to keep himself from panicking, trying to stop himself remembering that his sister was in one of those ships up there, somewhere in that mess of fire and explosions and death.

On the battlefield proper, away from Simon's treatment area, Zoe nudged Mal.

"River's smart, Captain, but she ain't no strategist."

Mal looked up.

"Can't see nothin' wrong with the girl's strategy," he replied, focussed on the gun he was reloading.

"Mal, look at the model of the ships."

Mal grunted in annoyance, but he looked up again, and this time he saw it. A design flaw in that particular model, corrected for the next batch of ships, and forgotten about. From behind, the ships River and the others had stolen were indefensible, totally vulnerable. All the Alliance would need to do was hem the ships in so that they couldn't turn around, and one ship could duck over or under the stolen fleet and win the battle for the Alliance, attacking from behind.

It wasn't long before a particularly astute Alliance commander worked it out too. He started giving the orders that would finish this battle, finish it and make him its hero, when he stopped.

Behind River's army of stolen people, the first of the angels were arriving.

There weren't many – after all, the Academy could only kidnap so many people – but genius always comes from somewhere. Some of the Academy students had brilliant parents, or siblings. Some had friends they'd worked with, perfecting… well, anything they could imagine. The army of angels didn't just have ships – they had the products of the minds the Academy had worked so hard to pervert and destroy. They had ships that fired from bizarre and unexpected places, they had ships with armoured exoskeletons that were impossible to breach, they had ships that could reach out and touch infinity, moving so fast they seemed to appear and disappear before the Alliance men's disbelieving eyes.

The Alliance lost as many ships in the five minutes after the first battalion of angels arrived as they had in the last six months of fighting. And the angels kept coming. A few minutes after the first battalion arrived, another ship entered the fray. A few minutes after that, another appeared, until the Alliance were not only technologically out of their depth, they were hopelessly outnumbered.

For the first time since before the war against the Independents, an Alliance fleet was forced to retreat. They ran away with their tails between their legs, and River Tam's army of angels landed victorious, greeted with cheers by the soldiers on the ground.

The Academy's pupils emerged from their ships, and their families and friends emerged from theirs, and the battleground became a mass of reunions, of hugging, crying people.

River walked up to the rest of Serenity's crew, her bare feet somehow managing to miss the millions of hazards on the ground. Simon ran up to her and hugged her hard, gabbling about how worried he'd been, how she was never to do anything like that ever again, how much he loved her…

"Ruttin' pansy," Jayne muttered as he pushed past the Tams. Mal grinned.

"C'mon, let's leave these people to their reunions. We've still got a delivery to make."

"I imagine we're a little late for the rendezvous by now, sir," Zoe said.

Mal nodded.

"Could be that's so."

"And here I thought you prided yourself on your reliability."

"Yep," Mal said cheerfully. "Terrible shame, really."

Still grinning, Serenity's Captain let the rest of the crew back to his ship.


	9. Epilogue

_A/N: That's it, last chapter! Thanks and space cookies to all who reviewed, and hope you enjoy the final instalment!_

Epilogue

It was odd, Mal thought, watching his crew. After the battle, after River Tam and Kaylee Frye beat the Alliance, after fifty damaged people were returned to their homes… you'd think the 'verse would change, somehow.

Sure, the amount of bounty hunters after River and Simon had gone up for a while, but the Alliance had tried so hard to hush up every detail of what had happened on that planet that there was nothing official they could do.

And yes, they'd changed the lives of all those Academy students and their friends and families. The Academy had shut down because of what they'd done.

The world around Serenity had changed, in a few tiny, subtle ways. But, Mal thought, it was odd how little his crew had changed.

Kaylee and River pelted past him, interrupting his train of thought. Kaylee clattered down the corridor in her combat boots and disappeared into the engine room. River ran into the corridor and paused, unsure where Kaylee was. The mechanic waited a couple of seconds, then slipped out the engine room door and ran down to the cargo bay.

"Come on then, genius!" she called. "I'm not afraid of you!"

River grinned, looking the happiest Mal had seen her in a while – since the battle, actually. River turned to him, just for a second, looked at him just for a moment…

And he saw.

All the tiny little incidents since the battle, all the things he'd overlooked and forgotten…

Book returning from the burial service for the soldiers' dead, and smiling at River and Kaylee with more admiration than Mal had ever seen him show.

Kaylee standing up to Jayne, marching right up to him, taking his gun off him, and informing him that there had to be a peaceful way to deal with whatever trouble they'd gotten themselves into that time, and leaving the merc just standing there stunned.

Wash spontaneously deciding he needed to learn to work a gun.

Zoe tossing River a share of the latest takings, the first time she'd been trusted with money, and no one objecting, or even really noticing.

Jayne borrowing Shepherd Book's Bible, and even attempting to read it. He only got a few pages in before going off to clean his guns, but the thought was there.

Inara forgoing business opportunities to stay with Serenity.

Simon watching Kaylee with a new respect in his eyes.

And River… River, racing through Serenity, barefoot and laughing, knowing that Kaylee wasn't afraid of her. Not any more. Kaylee had seen all she'd done, all she could do, and she wasn't afraid, and to River, that was everything.

Everything had changed, and he'd barely noticed…

Mal blinked.

And River was gone, chasing Kaylee to the cargo bay, past Zoe and Wash practising loading a pistol, past Simon and Inara practising loading a syringe, past Jayne and Book lifting weights and talking, through her crew and her ship and her home, barefoot, hair flying out behind her, laughing all the way.


End file.
